Clearly, in these cases, the connection may be the targeted account holders’ interest in matters that concern China. Wytze’s Twitter profile says he “writes about the intersection of tech and politics in East Asia” and edits the Taiwan Gazette.

If these Twitter follows are a prelude to broader strategy to shape global perceptions around sensitive matters for the Chinese Communist Party, don’t be surprised.

This is the nature of information security from an authoritarian nation.

In a time of globalization and the internet, it’s perhaps inevitable this desire to control would flow to where the discussion is occurring – even if overseas by non-Chinese, and non-ethnic Chinese people.

Of course, that intention collides headlong into democratic notions of freedom of expression and freedom of thought in many Western nations.